AceShowbiz - Katherine Heigl has signed on to play Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for U.S. president, in a new series.

Heigl will lead the cast of "Woodhull" and executive produce. The project will be based on multiple biographies, according to Deadline.

The then-34 year old became the first woman to run for president as the leader of the Equal Rights Party in 1872. Her running mate was abolitionist leader Frederick Douglas.

The feminist icon was the first woman to address the U.S. Congress and, alongside her sister, became the first woman to operate a brokerage firm on Wall Street. The sisters also founded a newspaper.

Woodhull was accused of blackmail and prostitution, arrested and charged on the eve of the presidential election.

The drama and subsequent acquittal prompted U.S. leaders to pass the 1873 Comstock Laws.

"The moment I discovered the almost too-big-to-be-true story of Victoria I have been enthralled and deeply invested in bringing her life story to the screen," Heigl said. "Victoria's outrageous courage, determination, intelligence and hutzpah would be remarkable in our modern times but was downright revolutionary in hers."

"Her name and her story has not been celebrated nearly enough for the trails she blazed and the paths she forged for all the women who came after her. I cannot wait to tell the story of this woman who would not be stopped in a time that forbade her to even start."